Laulauga Tausaga-Collins Wins US’ First Women’s Discus World Championship
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Laulauga Tausaga-Collins won the United States’ first-ever world championship gold in the women’s discus. She launched a winning throw of 69.49 meters beating her previous best record by nearly four meters.
“Laulauga Tausaga-Collins is a historic world champion and she cannot believe it!
#WorldAthleticsChamps,” @NBCOlympics wrote.
“I can’t tell you what it means right now because I still can’t believe it,” Tausaga-Collins said about her win. “I have all the feels and no words. It’s amazing!”
Details on the Winning Throw
According to the Associated Press, Tausaga-Collins won the title with a fifth-round throw of 69.49 meters (228 feet). Her throw catapulted her into first-place, surpassing her past teammate and world leader, Valarie Allman.
“I had such a rough beginning to my season, and, you know, I didn’t think I was gonna be able to come out of it,” the 25-year-old Tausaga-Collins said. “I’m just proud, very, very proud.”
Allman took the silver despite spending most of the evening in first place. And although disappointed, she was happy she lost to an athlete from her own country.
“If I could pick someone that I would want to win, I would absolutely be so honored to be sitting at the podium with another American,” Allman said
About Laulauga Tausaga-Collins
Tausaga-Collins was born in Oahu, Hawaii, and moved to San Diego when she was seven. She is part Samoan and has recently spoken out about the Maui wildfires.
“I’m constantly praying for them,” she said. “Pacific Islanders stick together,” AP reported.
She admitted not being interested in sports growing up, but she dedicated her latest win to her mother, who pushed her into sports.
“Just wanted to stay home and be a bookworm,” Tausaga-Collins said. “She was like, ‘No…You are getting very strong, so we might as well go do something.'”
The Hawaii native started playing volleyball, but that sport didn’t stick. She later went into basketball but didn’t have the speed required for the sport. Eventually, she started throwing shot put in high school, which got her into college. Tausaga-Collins picked Iowa, which launched the athletic career that brought her to the World Championships in Budapest.
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